Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems is being awarded an unpriced change order to support the AN/TPY-2 Army Navy/Transportable Radar operated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The contract includes engineering services for software development and maintenance relating to the foreign military sale (FMS) case to the UAE and was awarded by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) located at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

The unpriced change order will increase the value of a previously awarded sole-source contract by around $23 million, by modification. UAE FMS funds in the amount of $9.8 million will be obligated at time of award. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract from around $717.66 million to around $741 million.

The work contract will be performed in Woburn, Massachusetts with an expected completion date of November 2019.

The UAE Air Force and Air Defence has deployed the AN/TPY-2 Surveillance Transportable Radar as part of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

UAE became the first international customer of this advanced missile defense system in 2011 when it was bought through FMS route. The initial contract, estimated $1.135 billion, included 48 missiles, 9 TELs (transporter erector launchers) and two AN/TPY-2 Radars.

The THAAD system—designed to intercept short-range, medium-range, and some intermediate-range ballistic missiles (SRBM, MRBM, IRBM)—works in concert with the country’s existing assets including the Patriot PAC-3s, Hawk batteries and other associated radar elements.

AN/TPY-2 (Army Navy/Transportable Radar)

AN/TPY-2 Surveillance Transportable Radar, also called the Forward Based X-Band Transportable (FBX-T) is a long-range, high-altitude active electronically scanned array (AESA) surveillance radar developed by Raytheon and the U.S. Army. The radar was designed to add a tier to existing missile and air defense systems.

The AN/TPY-2 is a phased-array radar, which operates in the 8.55–10 GHz X band. Raytheon builds it as part of an X-band family, along with the National Missile Defense (NMD) X-Band Radar (XBR) and AN/FPS-129 HAVE STARE.

It is the primary radar for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system, but also cues the AN/MPQ-53 radar of the MIM-104 Patriot (PAC-3) system.

The U.S. Army remains responsible for its use by air defense artillery in theater and tactical applications while the Missile Defence Agency (MDA) is responsible for its applications as a component of national ballistic missile defense (BMD).

An AN/TPY-2 is based in Alaska as part of U.S. national missile defense development. It has been also deployed in Japan to collect strategic-level information on North Korean missile developments, as well as warning Japan of incoming warheads.

The U.S. has agreed to provide it to Israel, to complement their two-tier Arrow 2 missile and Patriot PAC-3 missile defense.